We played a few songs before our live taping of our interview with Elexa Dawson at the Folk Alliance Region Midwest conference. Here’s one of them, “Old Joe’s Chair,” written by Aaron and Phil Henry. It’s their song about the relationship between a man and his barber. It’s always good to have someone to talk to, especially during hard times.

In our first Nathans & Roncast recording in front of a live audience, we speak with Kansas-based performing songwriter Elexa Dawson about two songs she wrote about the Dakota Access Pipeline project that threatens the water supply of Native American communities in South Dakota. The songs are “Mother” and “Blacksnake.” We spoke with Elexa at the Folk Alliance Regional Midwest conference in Lisle, Illinois on Oct. 26, 2024. She performs both songs, and we finish the episode with a special treat. Elexa Dawson gives audiences something to cry about. Her hopeful messages cut through the mundane without sidestepping pain. Deeply […]

Richard Shindell is great story songwriter, and wow can he play guitar. Both of those skills — songwriting and guitar work — are on vivid display on one of his trademark songs, “You Stay Here,” off of his album “Somewhere Near Paterson” which was released in the year 2000. It’s a song about foraging and living off the land. At least that’s what we think it’s about.  There’s a vein of every man for himself that runs across this album — sadness, darkness, loss, addiction — but he does it with such amazing ear candy and stellar production, with such poetic […]

In part two of our conversation with the founder of February Album Writing Month, Burr Settles discusses the wonderful and occasionally strange journeys taken by songs written for the challenge. And we take a listen to Burr’s song “Love Out Loud,” which he wrote from a “comments-first” challenge during one FAWM. He built the song entirely around hypothetical feedback left in the comments section of a blank song. Burr was also on the founding team of the language learning app Duolingo. You’ll love the exciting finale of our conversation with Burr Settles. If you didn’t hear part one, here’s a […]

Aaron and Michael take you inside the process of making a set list just before a recent house concert. We write the set list in real time, trading songs back and forth and negotiating the pace of the show and making sure the duo’s songs are well balanced. We make it a tradition to build our setlist just beforehand, to keep things interesting, trading the pen back and forth, putting the songs here and there. In this case, we were sitting in front of an open window in the early fall in Rockport, Mass., waiting to the play the Whale […]

Tens of thousands of new songs, perhaps more, exist because Burr Settles founded February Album Writing Month in 2004. The annual monthlong challenge requires participants to write 14 songs in the 28 days of the month. People from around the world participate, sharing their new creations with each other and providing positive feedback, and building community. Burr also was among the early team that created Duolingo, the app that helps people learn new languages. In part one of our conversation, we talk about what it was like to go viral (twice!), and the technical challenges behind building a platform that […]

We’ve been working together for 14 years and counting, and our staying power is thanks in large part to the fact that we are some of each others’ biggest fans. In this episode, we (Aaron and Michael) pick a song of each others’ to praise. What makes the song work, both musically and lyrically? You’ll hear the songs in their entirety at the end. You’ll also hear the wind whistling during this episode. We recorded it in Rockport, Mass., by an open window on a blustery day, preparing for a house concert.

Hello, Aaron here. Anyone who has heard me play has probably heard me speak the words “February Album Writing Month” on more than one occasion. Most of my songs — not all of them, but most of them — have been written during the month of February, when there isn’t much to do outside, and the sun sets well before dinnertime. What is February Album Writing Month? Fashioned after National Novel Writing Month, it’s a challenge to write 14 songs in the 28 days of the shortest month of the year. You upload the words and music to their website, […]

Musically we can try to emulate, recreate, and imitate, but how do we begin the process of creating a song within our own voice? How can we get the listener’s attention with some surprises while simultaneously helping them feel at home and comfortable? Do we write with a genre in mind or can we not worry about that until we create the song that wanted to be written? Join Michael as he explores these ideas.

You have very likely never heard this song before, and it grips you right from the start. There is Buddy Mondlock’s trademark sweet steel-string guitar and soothing voice, but in contrast to much of his other, subtler material, this story is heart-stoppingly dramatic.  Mondlock sings from the point of view of his co-writer, Wade Bates, who had been an Army infantryman stationed in Afghanistan when a little girl outfitted with a bomb vest begins walking toward him and the base. Bates worked with Mondlock to process the trauma of that experience. In our last episode, we spoke with Mondlock about […]